'Historic' deal on ozone threats

2007-09-22 20:54

Montreal - Nearly 200 countries have agreed to accelerate the elimination of chemicals that threaten the ozone and exacerbate global warming, a top UN official announced on Saturday.

United Nation Environmental Programme chief Achim Steiner hailed the agreement to move forward bans on dangerous hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as a "vital signal" in efforts to slow climate change and welcomed China's willingness to back the deal.

"It is perhaps the most important breakthrough in an international environment negotiation process for at least five or six years," Steiner said.

Canada's Environment Minister John Baird called the success of the week-long meeting of 190 countries and the European Union a major step in battling global warming.

"The agreement to speed up the elimination of HCFCs will go down in the books as another successful chapter in the Montreal protocols," he said, referring to the 1987 conference which set the original goal to eliminate the use of HCFCs and related chemicals, often found in refrigerators, fire retardants and hairspray.

"But it will also stand out as a pivotal moment in the international fight against global warming ... It's no secret that the Montreal Protocol had the benefit of helping the ozone layer and slowing devastating effects of climate change."

The countries at the UN-sponsored conference agreed after a week of negotiations to speed up the target date for eliminating the use of HCFCs by 10 years.

The original dates for developed countries to stop using the ozone-damaging compounds was 2030, with developing nations to follow suit by 2040.

Steiner praised China, one of the world's biggest manufacturers and so users of HCFCs, for its support of the negotiations.

"We are talking about a burden-sharing formula whereby the international community helps particularly nations like China who particularly here in Montreal have shown a remarkable willingness to reach an international agreement, even though it is of significant consequence for China in implementing that."

- AFP